Despair's Hope (SYOC Closed)
by SilverPhoenix411
Summary: 16 new students are selected to join the famous Hope's Peak Acedemy, but instead they wake to find themselves in an old abandoned mansion, where the only way to get out is to kill another student without being caught. Will they find a way to get out, or will they give in to despair? SYOC closed
1. Chapter 1

_It's finally done. Everything is ready. I've spent my whole lifetime setting this up, making sure everything is absolutely perfect. This can't be like the last time. The last time they had no idea what they were doing. The last time they tried this they failed. Miserably. But I won't fail. I've spent too much time and effort for this to fail. Oh, I can see it now. That beautiful hope that will soon turn to dark, crushing despair. If only I could include myself among them, to revel in such despair...but no, it is not to be. I cannot allow myself that just yet. Their despair will be enough for now. And what despair it will be._

 _"It's ready. Should I start the plan?" I didn't even notice the other person enter the room._

 _"Of course. I've waited long enough to do this" I respond, gesturing for him to leave. He bows quickly before running back out. The others know what to do. I've explained my plan enough that even their tiny brains must understand it by now. Right now, I just want to be alone and revel in the knowledge that despair will soon be mine._

 _I've waited much too long. But now I don't have to wait any longer. I look out across the long row of monitors in front of me, so out of place in the fanciful room, filled with such ornate decor. The buzzing and humming of electricity seems so out of place, yet somehow right. The displays show so much hope right now, hope that will all too easily be turned to despair. Just like how I've changed this beautiful room into a place of horror, technology crowding out the ancient decorations. Yes, soon these monitors will show a much different view. I laugh, and I'm sure someone hears me but I don't care. This won't fail. I know that now. This will be the Greatest Despair the world has ever known._

 _I guess I should explain my plan. I'd hate to give everything away so early, but I can at least say a few things. After all, it's not like you'll remember any of it. Really, my goal is simple. Despair. That's all I want. The world's despair. And I'll have it soon, my plan begins today._

-oOo-

Hey, and welcome to my Danganronpa SYOC story! I've finally gotten around to making a plot and some background for my story, and now all I need are your OCs!

Before you look at the form and start making your characters though, there are some rules.

Please PM me your characters. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of them all. Characters left in a review will not be looked at.

You may submit as many characters as you want. I would prefer to not have a ton of characters all from the same person in the story though, so at most two characters from the same person will be accepted. Feel free to submit more, but a maximum of two will be accepted.

I'll do my best to stick to the way you've described your OC, but characters sometimes change over the course of a story. I'll promise nothing major, but if I feel like it would add to the story I may make a small change or two.

No Mary Sues! Characters are much more interesting when they have both strengths and flaws. Also, as far as talents go, the more original the better. The only talents I absolutely won't accept are Hope, Despair, Luck, Unknown, or any others that were already in any of games. Any other talents are fair game, but generic ones are less likely to be accepted unless the character is especially interesting.

The main character will be whoever I feel most fits the role. I'm most comfortable with writing in first person, and I feel like switching point of views would be awkward with so many characters.

I think that's about it, so here's the form!

Name (First name then surname, all characters will be addressed by their first name unless you say otherwise):

Gender:

Age (should be high school age unless backstory provides good reason):

Talent (Try to be original! The more original the better):

Appearance:

Belongings (stuff that they would take with them to Hope's Peak):

Personality:

Quotes (include as many as possible! Not all of them will be used, but it gives me an idea of how they talk and what they might say. Include context if necessary):

Greatest fear:

Greatest hope/wish:

Secrets (can include more than one, but only one is needed):

Background/family:

Likes:

Dislikes:

What do they do during investigations and trials? (Do they just stand there/aren't good at that kind of thing? Do they find flaws in arguments?):

Flaws/weaknesses:

Strengths:

Blood Type:

Other (any extra things you think would work into the story):

After the week is up, it shouldn't be long before I post a list of all 16 accepted characters. I can't wait to see all your awesome OCs!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys, the week for submission is now over. But I still haven't received enough submissions to start the story yet, so I've decided to leave it open for another week or two. I'd much rather have too many characters than not enough. Also, you may now submit up to three characters instead of two. Hopefully I'll be able to get enough characters with these changes, and start this story fairly soon.

As a bit of an update, I'll list the characters that I've already decided to accept. Don't worry if your character isn't here, it doesn't necessarily mean I won't accept them. I might just be figuring out if I can characterize them properly (I don't want to accept a character that I can't write), or I might still be looking over them to see how they'll work in the story. I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what talents are taken.

Females:

Mitsuru Banba- Ultimate Sukeban (dashunterman)

Naomi Tsukuda- Ultimate Architect (Wolfnight3634)

Asami Fukui- Ultimate Psychologist (nathantheman)

Ryouka Hashira- Ultimate Ventriloquist (SatokoHojo)

Males:

Jhin Kurosawa- Ultimate Strategist (Third Cosmic Velocity)

Shigeru Fukuyama- Ultimate Traditional Dressmaker (TheRoseShadow21)

So yeah, I still need more submissions. On another note, I've been working on a cover for this story! It will include my version of Monokuma- but he's not going to be a bear. Can you guys guess what he'll be? Feel free to leave a guess in the reviews or through PM, anyone who guesses correctly will be mentioned in the first chapter! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, yet another update incoming. The story will be starting very soon! I will be leaving character submissions open until Sunday, and the very first chapter will be out before the end of the next week! I'm super excited to get this started and I hope you guys are too :) All of the characters have been great so far, but here's an update on which ones have been accepted. Again, if yours isn't on here I may still be looking over them, and it definitely doesn't mean they won't be accepted. I'm just being extra picky about these last few characters.

Females:

Mitsuru Banba- Ultimate Sukeban (dashunterman)

Naomi Tsukuda- Ultimate Architect (Wolfnight3634)

Asami Fukui- Ultimate Psychologist (nathantheman)

Ryouka Hashira- Ultimate Ventriloquist (SatokoHojo)

Kayo Kayano- Ultimate Busker (TheRoseShadow21)

Males:

Jhin Kurosawa- Ultimate Strategist (Third Cosmic Velocity)

Shigeru Fukuyama- Ultimate Traditional Dressmaker (TheRoseShadow21)

Kei Takeshi- Ultimate Ninja (Unawakened Spirit)

Kazuki Nakamuro- Ultimate Biochemist (CCRA)

Shiro Ishida- Ultimate Electrician (Scissor-Snipper)

Same as last time feel free to continue guessing what animal my Monokuma will be, and submit more characters! Thanks for reading this little update, and I'll see you guys on Sunday with the full list of accepted characters and their ultimate talents. :)


	4. Chapter 4

_Everything was perfect. I smirked to myself, as I looked over the list one more time. It'd been difficult to get everything ready and prepare everything necessary, but the hardest part had been this list. The students. 16 students to experience the ultimate despair. Really, they should be thankful I chose them. Not even I would get to see the true despair. Indeed, I was only a part of a whole. I looked down at my hand, where I held a small, inconspicuous flash drive. It's hard to believe that it could hold anything of importance, but it did. I held it up to my eyes, turning it over in my hand. It was pink, with a design of a black and white bear on it. I frowned. Bears were overdone. I grabbed a small paintbrush and some paint, and fixed it. There. Really, who likes bears anymore?_

 _Sadly not everything could be fixed with a bit of paint. I sighed. I really didn't want to use this. But I couldn't do this alone. I needed help. Specifically her help. Before I could talk myself out of it, I plugged the flash drive into a special port on the side of the main computer. Immediately, every electronic in the room shut down. Everything was silent. And then, things slowly started turning back on. Her face appeared on monitors throughout the room. She seemed to stare through me, and it was then that I realized my mistake. I should have never let him talk me into this. Our plan would have worked. But now it was no longer our plan, was it? In my peripheral vision I saw her going through documents, reading through everything, even things we had designed to be protected. And then she found the controls for the whole building. That was what finally pushed me into action, as I ripped the flash drive out of the port. Too late. I furiously typed at the keyboard, trying to erase her files, but I was no Ultimate Programmer. My knowledge of computers was limited at best, and I was no match for her. She had control of everything, and I was immediately blocked out. I heard the sound of the guns that had been installed to protect us, and I heard screams. And then silence again, except for the faint humming of the computers. A terrible mistake. That was my last thought before the single mounted gun in the room swung towards me and time seemed to freeze. And then there was nothing._

" _Reborn at last for the final despair"_

-o0o-

Hey guys, I'm back with the final list of characters and a bit more pre-despair backstory! You guys better be excited, this means the first chapter will be out in just a few days! The first chapter will be the beginning of the prologue, and will introduce the main character as well as some of the others. My original plan was to have all of the introductions in one chapter, but I feel that would be a bit rushed, and it would be harder to remember the characters. So I'm splitting it into two, and after that I'll get into the first actual chapter.

Now onto the part you all actually want to see. The final list of accepted OCs! In total, I received 28 OCs, of course meaning I couldn't accept them all. It was really tough to pick just 16, but I'm very happy with the ones I did. I'm also really happy that I can say I did not receive a single "bad" character. If yours didn't get accepted, feel free to submit them to another SYOC, and I hope you'll still read this story, though I completely understand if you don't. With that, onto the accepted submissions!

Females:

Mitsuru Banba- Ultimate Sukeban (dashunterman)

Naomi Tsukuda- Ultimate Architect (Wolfnight3634)

Asami Fukui- Ultimate Psychologist (nathantheman)

Ryouka Hashira- Ultimate Ventriloquist (SatokoHojo)

Kayo Kayano- Ultimate Busker (TheRoseShadow21)

Akari Suzumiya- Ultimate Recreation Worker (VioElcina)

Akiko Shimizu- Ultimate Skateboarder (SongBirds-Lullaby)

Keiko Akasaka- Ultimate Croupier (dashunterman)

Males:

Jhin Kurosawa- Ultimate Strategist (Third Cosmic Velocity)

Shigeru Fukuyama- Ultimate Traditional Dressmaker (TheRoseShadow21)

Kei Takeshi- Ultimate Ninja (Unawakened Spirit)

Kazuki Nakamuro- Ultimate Biochemist (CCRA)

Shiro Ishida- Ultimate Electrician (Scissor-Snipper)

Taro Kisaragi- Ultimate Soundtrack Composer (TikiKitsune)

Ryu Kaneshiro- Ultimate Blacksmith (Default241)

Aoki Hanabira- Ultimate Poet (Memeatemesis)

Also, no one has correctly guessed my Monokuma animal yet! Lots of cats, and surprisingly a lot of sea animals have been guessed, but nothing has been even close. Keep guessing, you've got until the first chapter to get it right! I've also finally finished the cover, though I'll wait to post it so you can continue guessing.

And that's about it for the update! I hope you enjoyed the little bit of backstory, and I can't wait to get this story started! :)


	5. Chapter 5

_The first chapter is done! The only person to correctly guess my Monokuma animal was Memeatemesis, who guessed a bird! Dashunterman got close with a hawk, but not exact. So yeah, we've got a Monobird. Though he will be called Monotori throughout the story because that's the Japanese word for bird, like kuma is the Japanese word for bear. Anyways, enjoy the first chapter of the story!_

-o0o-

Hope's Peak Academy. A school for the exceptionally talented, for those high school students who are the absolute best at what they do. They say that if you manage to graduate from there you are guaranteed a life of success. But for one class, their invitations spelled disaster. Two years after they had begun their new lives at Hope's Peak, catastrophe struck. A single event, known only as the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history, or The Tragedy, destroyed the world as they knew it. In an attempt to save the last remaining hope of humanity, they locked themselves within the school, hoping to wait out the destruction. But the despair was already among them, in the form of their two classmates. Two sisters obsessed with despair. Together they wiped the memories of their classmates, and forced them into a game of life or death, where the only way out was murder. One sister controlled the game, while the other pretended to be her sister and hid among the students. But their plan failed. The students stood together, and though they were given motive after motive to kill, they didn't. Whether they remembered or not, they were friends. They gathered around one student, who became known only as the Ultimate Hope. Eventually, the sister controlling the game went mad, and in a fit of rage murdered her own sister, revealing herself to the students. In shock and horror, the remaining 14 forced the mastermind, now known only as the Ultimate Despair, to show them the way out. They then set to rebuilding the world, which had almost completely fallen to despair. The Ultimate Despair was locked away, never to see the light of day again, and punished for her crimes. Some say she was killed, while others believe the students refused to stoop to her level and simply left her locked up, where she could never escape. Slowly, the world was rebuilt, and the incident was almost forgotten, remembered only by the remaining students and the stories the internet created. But some say the Despair lives on, and is simply waiting for the time to strike again, and finally destroy the world.

I sighed as I exited out of the tab. So much for researching Hope's Peak Academy. It almost seems like the only information out there was horror stories about despair and hope and whatever. The only thing of note I could find was a few blogs talking about the students. Mostly the students who had survived the despair. They were pretty much celebrities, almost myths. There were even conspiracy theories that the whole thing never happened, and those students were legends created by the media. Though there were one or two blogs talking about new students, and those were the ones that I was interested in. I had to know my fellow students right? I looked back at the paper laying next to my computer screen. An acceptance letter. I'd been carrying it around for the past few days, simply so that I could make sure it was real. I picked it up and read over it again.

 _Kayo Kayano_

 _We are writing to inform you of your acceptance into Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Busker. We believe that your talent for music and your determination will inspire hope, as it has already done for those who have met you. Your discipline and ability to educate yourself despite your circumstances, as well as your undeniable talent has made you an obvious choice for this honor. You have been chosen as one of sixteen students to enter Hope's Peak as a freshman starting this year. If you should choose to accept and attend Hope's Peak Academy, there will be a mandatory opening ceremony held at Hope's Mansion, at one o'clock p.m. on the 21st of August. This ceremony will begin your life as a student at the Academy, and we strongly suggest that you bring anything of importance with you, as you will be living on campus for the majority of your school life. We hope to see you there._

 _Hope's Peak Academy Executive Board_

Yep, still real. And still just as unbelievable as the first time I read it though. Sure, I'd always known I had talent, it was how I'd survived this long. But to be good enough for Hope's Peak Academy to notice me? It still felt like a dream. I had received the letter almost two weeks ago, when I'd found it on my backpack after a long day of busking. I have no idea how it got there, but it's definitely real. It had been sealed with Hope's Peak's symbol, and the current headmaster had signed it.

After a few more minutes of searching through the blogs and learning a bit more about the other incoming freshmen, I turned off the computer. It was almost closing time at the library, and I still had to pack up my things.

-o0o-

So this was Hope's Mansion. A mansion that had been given to the academy by an old student, it was said that Hope's Peak had taken care of it and kept it for certain ceremonies. I guess this year's opening ceremony counted as one of those. It was a huge mansion, and obviously very old. However, the bricks still looked to be in good shape, and it certainly didn't seem to be in any sort of disrepair. I looked around, hoping to see a fellow student, but there was no one around. Oh well, I was a few minutes early. I guess I might as well go in, I'm sure they won't mind if I'm a bit early.

There was a long winding path to the front gate, made of gravel. It looked like the original stones, though the gate had obviously been replaced with one bearing the symbol of Hope's Peak Academy. The gate was open, and I walked past it in silence. It had finally sunk in. I was really going to Hope's Peak as a student. What would have seemed an unachievable dream only a few weeks ago was now reality. I placed my hand on the front door, and slowly opened it. I don't know what I expected to find. A grand entrance? Whatever I had expected, it wasn't this complete darkness. Darkness, and then unconsciousness.

-o0o-

I woke up with a horrible headache. It felt like someone was splitting my head open from the inside. I held a hand up to my head as I struggled to sit up. It looked like I was in a… bed? Yep, I was in a really big bed. Had I passed out or something? That would be kinda embarrassing, but so far it seemed the most likely scenario. That would make this one of the rooms in the mansion then. I groaned as I finally managed to sit up. Why did my head hurt so much? Did I hit it on the way down? Suddenly there was a beeping sound from somewhere to my side. I noticed a small electronic device on the table near the bed, and I picked it up. It looked almost like a cellphone, and when I turned it on, the beeping stopped. A screen popped up with my name on it, and information about me. Curious, I tapped the screen, and the information faded away, revealing a sort of home screen, with a few apps on it. Most of the boxes were gray and had no description, and nothing happened when I tapped on them. The only ones that were currently available it seemed were a map and a list of students. I immediately opened the list of students, but I was disappointed to see just a bunch of question marks. I opened the map, but the only thing there was one room, with a dot near the edge of it. The key at the bottom right corner identified the dot as a marker of where I was. There didn't appear to be anything else I could do with the device, so I went to put it in my backpack. And then I panicked. My backpack wasn't here. That backpack held everything I owned, I couldn't just lose i- There it was. I spotted it sitting on a chair nearby, and breathed a sigh of relief. Of course it wouldn't be with me in the bed. I got up and put the device in one of the pockets. For the first time since I woke up, I got a good look at the room I was in. The only word that could possibly describe it was impossible. I had never seen such an extravagant, beautiful room in my entire life. Everything down to the smallest detail was perfect. The lamp on the side table was probably worth more than my entire life savings. But the best part was that everything was perfect for me. The room was covered in musical instruments, both mine and new ones. There were even instruments that I had no idea how to play. The bookcases on the side of the room were full of sheet music. I walked over and pulled out a few random pieces. There was everything, ranging from classical to pop to everything in between. They ranged in difficulty from the easiest pieces, meant for beginners, to pieces that would take months for even me to perfect. I put them back carefully, taking a step back. On the other side of the room there was a bathroom, bigger than most apartments I'd seen.

After spending a few more minutes looking around what I assumed had to be my room, I heard yet another beeping sound from the device I'd put in my backpack. I took it back out and turned it on, tapping past the information screen. A new icon was available, labeled messages. I touched the icon, and it opened what looked like a standard messaging app. I apparently had a new message from… Monotori? Who in the world is Monotori? Confused, I opened the message.

 _Kayo Kayano_

 _I'm so excited to see you've accepted your invitation to Hope's Peak Academy. The opening ceremony will be held at five o'clock in the Main Hall, which has been added to the map on your Monotori Device. Attendance is mandatory for all students, and tardiness will be punished! It is advised that you get to know your fellow students in the time before the ceremony, though feel free to be antisocial and stay in your rooms!_

 _Headmaster Monotori_

According to the… Monotori device… It was currently a little past three o'clock. I guess I should do as the message says and go meet people? Though maybe I should find this Main Hall first so I know where I'm going. I opened up the map, and noticed a few more places had been added. Outside of my room was a long hallway with fifteen other rooms lined up along the two sides. I assumed these must be my classmate's rooms, as each of them was labeled with question marks just like on the student list. The right hallway appeared to end after the rooms, but to the left was what the key said was a door, which opened up into a large room labeled Main Hall. I guess that's where we're supposed to meet in a few hours. I gathered up my backpack, put the Monotori device in my pocket, and decided to head out. Maybe I'd run into some fellow students on the way.

Or they'd run into me. As soon as I opened the door I was nearly knocked over by a girl on a skateboard. She had long dark red hair, and bangs pushed to the right side of her face. She wore a white mid riff top with an owl on it, ywith a red and pink plaid long sleeved shirt left unbuttoned on top. She also wore dark grey jean shorts, with black tights underneath and black all star shoes. Around her neck was a pair of red headphones, and she wore a black beanie. Although her most noticeable feature was definitely her eyes. More accurately, her eye. Both were a golden amber color, but her right eye had a vertical scar across it, rendering it a paler shade and the pupil invisible.

She swerved out of the way just in time to avoid hitting me, and hopped off her skateboard.

"Oh, hey, didn't see you there. The name's Akiko, but usually everyone just calls me Aki. Call me what you like, I couldn't care less. What's your name?" She said casually.

"Kayo Kayano. I assume you're another student here?" I asked. I hadn't been expecting to see another student so quickly, but a friend wouldn't be bad right now. Especially since I had no clue what was going on.

"Yep, I'm the Ultimate Skateboarder" She picked up her skateboard, which I now noticed had chibi skulls all over it, and a hot pink underside. "Let me guess, you're the Ultimate Model or Makeup Artist or some other girly talent"

"Uh, not exactly. I'm the Ultimate Busker" I replied. Did I really look that girly? I did have a skirt and a rainbow colored scarf, but I'd never thought of my outfit as being overly girly.

"Eh, musical, close enough. Anyways, I'll see you later, I've got some exploring to do!" She put her skateboard back down and soon enough she'd gone around the corner. Well so much for having a conversation and making friends. Maybe I'd see her later. I took out my Monotori device, and just as I'd expected, there was a new notification. My guess about the student list had been correct. I opened the app, and one line of question marks had been replaced by the name Akiko Shimizu. I tapped on her name and some basic information popped up.

A strange function, but interesting. There were more question marks below the basic information, and when I exited out of Aki's profile, I noticed that there were 15 total lines. One for each student besides myself. I'd have to mess around with the function more later, but for now I should probably get out of the hallway. I turned off the device and started walking down the left hallway towards the Main Hall.

Until I nearly ran into yet another student. I'd decided to walk along the side of the hallway, in case Aki came back and couldn't swerve away from me, and what did I get for my trouble? A door to the face.

"Hey, are you okay? I didn't see you there!" I looked up to see another student closing his door behind him and looking at me worriedly. He wore a blue jacket unzipped over a lighter shirt, with denim pants and black converse. He also had on a labcoat, making him look like a stereotypical scientist. I might have laughed had my face not hurt so much.

"Would you believe that's the second time someone's said that to me in the last five minutes? Yeah, I'm fine, or at least I will be in a minute. I'm Kayo Kayano by the way, the Ultimate Busker. What about you?" I said as I rubbed at my face. The pain was already fading, and it didn't seem likely to bruise thankfully.

"Kazuki Nakamuro, Ultimate Biochemist. But I'm guesing you already knew it was some something chemistry related" He laughed, looking down at his labcoat. "I'm not really sure why I still have this on, I was working on something before I got here, but then I guess I must've passed out or something cause when I woke up I was in that room" He said laughing, as he took off the labcoat and threw it back into his room.

"So I'm not the only one? You passed out too?" I asked. Once was an incident, but for two people to have the same thing happen to them just seemed like too much of a coincidence.

"Huh? You mean the same thing happened to you? Well that's weird. By any chance did you get one of these when you woke up?" Kazuki held up a device that looked almost exactly like mine.

"Yeah, I did" I held mine up next to his. "I'm assuming you got that weird message too then"

"The one from someone named Monotori? I did, I was actually going to head to the Main Hall before I bumped into you. Sorry about that by the way" He laughed nervously.

"Like I said, it's fine. And that's where I was headed too, want to walk together?" Kazuki seemed nice enough, and it might be easier to figure out what was happening if there were two of us.

"Sure, I don't mind. It's just down this hallway to the left isn't it?"

"That's what the map says" I said.

"They must be really rich if they can afford to buy each of us one of these device things. They look like they were specially made for the school" Kazuki said as we started walking down the hallway. "I mean, they don't do much now, but look at all the grayed out icons. They must be really high tech"

"It's Hope's Peak Academy. Best of the best. If your room is anything like mine, I think we'd better get used to it" I said that, but I still couldn't believe it. How could a school be so rich that they could afford all of this? It's not like we would be staying at this mansion for long, I'd heard there were dorms at the actual academy. If this was what temporary rooms were like, I was definitely looking forward to seeing our real rooms.

"It's like we're celebrities or something" He said.

That's exactly what it was like. This life was almost exactly like how you heard about famous actors and movie stars living. Like royalty.

I was about to reply, when we arrived at the door to what should be the Main Hall. What actually stopped me was the sounds of fighting from the other side of the door.

"Kei will not buy such obviously fake products"

"FAKE?! Are you accusing me of selling fake expensive products to my beloved loyal customers?! Such allegations wound me, how could you assume that I would trick my precious customers into buying such things. I ONLY SELL THE BEST IN QUALITY AND I DEMAND AN APOLOGY FROM YOU!"

"Kei will not apologize for the truth"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK NOW!"

"Uh...Should we interfere?" Kazuki looked at me. "They seem kind of… Busy"

"We should probably do something before they hurt each other" It did sound like the two voices were fighting now, so before I could talk myself out of the idea I pushed open the door.

What greeted me and Kazuki was an almost comical sight. The voice we'd heard screaming belonged to a guy wearing a black and white checkered polo, black jeans, and what seemed to be a black and white fedora. He seemed to be trying to punch another guy, but he was failing terribly.

"Kei would be a poor ninja indeed if the likes of you were able to defeat him"

"Shut up and HEY! THAT'S CHEATING"

The taller boy, who was wearing a black jacket with a yellow scarf draped around his neck, looked down from his position on top of the giant chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

"Kei did not wish to hurt you. Therefore Kei removed himself from the situation"

He looked almost graceful hanging from the ceiling, and soon he elegantly dropped himself onto the ground. He seemed to notice us still standing at the door, in shock at the whole experience. He left the other boy where he stood and walked over to us. Eventually, after a bit more swearing and shouting, the other boy left through a door on the other side of the room.

"Kei is sorry you had to see that" He said when he was close enough to speak to us. His manner of speech had seemed weird for a while, and only now did I notice that it was because he spoke in third person.

"Mind telling us what happened? We were just walking by when we heard you two arguing" Kazuki asked. I was curious as well, it had to have been one of the weirdest fights I'd ever seen.

"Kei was investigating the Main Hall, when Satoshi, the one who just left, introduced himself as the Ultimate Counterfeiter. He then tried to sell Kei merchandise, which Kei had no interest in buying from a counterfeiter. When Kei accused him of selling fakes, Satoshi became defensive and angry, and tried to attack Kei. However, Kei is the Ultimate Ninja, so he was unable to hit Kei. Kei believes this made him more angry, so Kei decided to jump onto the chandelier to avoid having to fight back. Kei thinks you saw the rest"

"Yeah, we did. Speaking of which, where did Satoshi go?" Kazuki looked around the room, but the three of us appeared to be the only ones here.

"I saw him go through the door over there. You might not want to follow him though, he still looked pretty angry" I said.

"Kei wanted to go see something, so Kei will be leaving now. Would you mind introducing yourselves so that Kei will know your names when he sees you again?"

Oh wow, since we knew his name and talent, I'd completely forgotten Kazuki and I had never introduced ourselves. "I'm Kayo Kayano, the Ultimate Busker, and this is Kazuki Nakamuro"

"Kei. Kei Takeshi. It has been nice to meet you" He said before leaving through the door back towards our rooms.

"Sorry, but I think I'm going to leave too. I want to see where Satoshi went. I hope you don't mind" Kazuki said a few moments after Kei had closed the door behind him.

"Not at all. I want to look around here for a while anyways, I'll see you later" I said. Kazuki smiled gratefully before walking across the room to the door on the other side.

I turned back to what appeared to be the front of the room. On both sides of the room was a door, one leading back to the rooms, and the other to wherever Satoshi and Kazuki had gone. Towards the front were twin spiral staircases, leading up to what had to be a second floor. Though the most noticeable thing in the room was the giant stage set up in between the two staircases. It didn't look like it belonged there, probably because it had been put there specifically for the opening ceremony. Which, looking at my Monotori Device, would be in an hour and a half. That would probably be enough time to meet everyone, but for now I decided to see what was upstairs.

The first thing I noticed about the stairs was the caution tape. Tons of the stuff was wrapped around the first few steps and the railings. Nothing about them seemed to be broken or dangerous though, so I decided to get closer to get a better look.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" A sudden voice made me jump and turn around. I hadn't heard her enter the room, but a girl carrying a sketchbook was pointing at something above my head. Curious, I followed her finger, and nearly screamed in fright. On the ceiling next to the stairs was a machine gun, pointing right at me. I backed away quickly, and it folded back into the ceiling as quietly as it had appeared. What kind of school had machine guns next to it's stairs?!

"Sorry to scare you like that, but I nearly made the same mistake earlier. The name's Tsukuda. Naomi Tsukuda"

As my heart rate finally slowed down, I turned around to face her. Her skin was pale, and her messy blonde hair was in a ponytail that went down to her shoulders. She had thin-framed square glasses, and dark brown eyes. She wore a grey tank top with a cream colored coat over it, and a black flowing skirt that stopped just above her knees. She had black trainers, and white fingerless gloves on her hands.

"Kayo Kayano. Thanks for kind of saving my life there, I didn't even notice there was a gun!"

"Don't mention it. I'm more worried about why there's a gun. How did they even install it into the original ceiling?" The original ceiling? Why was she worried about that of all things? "Oh, sorry, I'm the Ultimate Architect. I notice weird things like that. Thinking of that, what's your talent?" She asked.

"I'm the Ultimate Busker" I said.

"Oh cool, what instrument do you play?"

"Right now I play flute and guitar, but I definitely plan to learn to play more. Especially since there's a ton more instruments in my room" I thought back to the inside of my room and all the different instruments. It would take forever to learn them all, but that wouldn't stop me from trying. "I'd play you something, but I don't have either of my instruments with me"

"That's fine, maybe you can play something for everyone later. Anyways, I should get going, I wanted to look at the rest of the building. I'll see you around" She said, yelling the last part as she walked towards the door to the rooms.

I turned on my Monotori Device to check the time again, and noticed that there were a bunch of new notifications from the profile app. I quickly scrolled through them, seeing the basic information of everyone I'd met so far. Even Satoshi was there, listed as Satoshi Ara, even though I hadn't actually talked to him. I exited out of the app, and was surprised when there was still a notification, this time on the messaging app. Another message from the mysterious Monotori person? I opened it, and was happy to see that it appeared to be from Kazuki. I didn't need any more weird messages from people I didn't know. But since when could you send messages to other students? I hadn't noticed a function like that when I'd opened the app at first. Well, only one way to find out. I tapped on the message and read through it.

 _Hey Kayo, it's me, Kazuki. Apparently this messaging app lets you message anyone you've met so far that's listed in that student profile app. Satoshi found it when he was messing around with the device earlier, and I figured I'd let you know about it. There's a little button in the top right corner of the screen, if you tap on that you can write a message. It looks like there's also supposed to be some form of video chatting, but it's grayed out like most of the icons on the home page. Anyways, let me know if you get this and I'll see you at the opening ceremony._

So this device really was like a phone. I typed out a quick reply letting him know I did get the message, and put the device away. I still had quite a bit of time before the opening ceremony, and I didn't feel like just standing here and waiting. But which way to go? I could go back to the rooms and see where that hallway went, or I could go through the other door. The staircases were definitely off limits, and there didn't seem to be anything behind the giant stage.

Eventually I decided to go through the new door. I slowly pushed it open to reveal a hallway that looked exactly like the one our rooms were located in. Even the doors were the same, but when I pushed one open it was just empty. No furniture, nothing on the walls, just a big, empty room. There wasn't even any fancy lighting like you'd expect in a mansion like this, the room almost looked…

"Abandoned. It looks abandoned doesn't it?" I turned around to see a boy looking into the room from behind me. His eyes were a striking violet, while his golden brown hair was less remarkable. He wore skinny-legged dark trousers with a chunky-knit red jumper and a light grey casual blazer over it. He had brogues for shoes, which wouldn't be so eye-catching if they weren't bright red. He looked tense, staring into the room as if he saw something besides bare walls and emptiness.

"Yeah, that's about it. I wonder why this room is so empty?"

"It's not just this room. All of the rooms along this hallway are empty, except for one" He stepped back a bit, and I saw that he'd been in the room next to this one, which looked exactly the same.

"That's weird. Maybe they were cleared out for something but were never finished?" I suggested.

"Maybe. Anyways, I am Shigeru Fukuyama, the Ultimate Traditional Dressmaker. And you are?"

"Kayo Kayano, Ultimate Busker. It's nice to meet you"

"That's a grand name. It's nice to meet you as well" A strange way to say it, but he sounded sincere. I decided to take it as a compliment.

"Thank you. You said there was one room that was different, not empty like the others" I said, remembering what he'd said earlier.

"Yes, along each side of the hallway are eight doors, just like where our rooms are. But on the right side of this hallway, there's an extra door. It's quite out of place. I have somewhere else to be, so I'll let you investigate on your own. When you're done you should check out the dining hall. It has all kinds of food, and it would be best not to go to the opening ceremony on an empty stomach" With that he turned away and soon disappeared around a corner.

I couldn't help but wonder what he meant by out of place. Sure it was weird that there was an extra door when this side of the building seemed to mirror the side with our rooms, but it wasn't really out of place. Maybe it was meant as a figure of speech or something? Shigeru did seem to use interesting phrases to describe things, maybe it was just part of that. I decided not to dwell on it and just go see for myself. After all, it couldn't be anything bad. At least, that's what I was telling myself. Shigeru had definitely been quick to change the subject when I'd brought it up.

The door didn't look any different from the others. It was evenly spaced with the others and the nearby corner, so it looked to be about the same size as well. I opened the door without too much hesitation. I really wish I hadn't.

-o0o-

 _Yep, I'm leaving it on a cliffhanger. So what did you guys think of the first chapter? Only eight of the characters were introduced, but for those that were, did I characterize them correctly? Any general thoughts about the story so far? I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking, so let me know in a review! Remember, writers live off of reviews!_

 _And also a quick note, I know some characters had fairly short parts, but this is just the first chapter. These are just quick introductions so I can practice writing the characters, the real character development will come with the first free times. :)_

 _Anyways, the next chapter will hopefully be within the week, after that I'm back in school so updates will be slower. I'll see you guys then :)_


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